Starting the bike in very low temperatures, advice needed

  • Thread starter Thread starter bashan
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bashan

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Probably many of you would not encounter this problem, since not many riders consider riding their bike when the outside temperature is ~0F (less than -15c). However, I do, and find it very hard to start the bike in those cold days.

This morning, when I left for work, the outside temperature was -3F. I’m not sure about the temperature inside my garage but it wasn’t that far off (probably around 10F). The battery voltage reading was 12.41[V], before I started the ignition sequence. After the self diagnostics, I pushed the starter button and… tak-tak-tak, no starter movement. From previous measurements, I know that if the air temperature is around 30F, battery voltage of ~12.15[V] is enough to start the bike. I used the car to jumpstart the bike, and it ignites without any real problems (I use 10-30 mineral engine oil). Yesterday evening I had the same problem, at the end of the day, before heading back home. At work, my bike is parked in an open lot (covered), and the temperature was approximately the same.

I guess this has something to do with the starter having a temperature-dependent internal resistant. Meaning if it is too cold, the starter resistant reduces, thus it effectively sees a lower voltage level than what the battery shows. But this is only a speculation and I would be glad if someone would provide a detailed explanation about what is going on here.

Most important, I’m hoping for a solution for that problem. I’m sick and tired of looking for a car donor at the parking lot to help me jumpstart the bike. My daily commute is about 25min each way, and I like riding my bike. For some reason it seems that this bike is taking the Michigan winter more seriously than I do.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Eran.
 
I use 10-30 mineral engine oil
Click to expand...
Not quite the same, but a mate of mine in Detroit went to Synthetic oil in his porker 944 turbo and commented how much fast the engine cranked over on a cold morning as a result.
 
At -20degC you're approaching the temperature limit of a lead acid battery, at temperatures much below that the chemical reactions are so slow and the internal resistance of the battery so high that it fails to work in any meaningful manner.

The gel batteries are more compact and may be more susceptible to cold temperatures.

The only possible solution is to apply some form of insulation to the battery in an attempt to keep it at an elevated temperature. Maybe a hot waterbottle before you go to bed???:D
 
get out of bed an hour or so before starting the bike and light small paraffin heater under the bike. When you are ready to start it later you will find that the bike is nice and warm and ready to go;)
 
Good idea the paraffin heater. Me and a mate used a small greenhouse paraffin heater and a cover to keep our bikes snug and warm when we did the Elefantentreffen and Krystall Rallies. Absolutely no problems starting them up- a GS and an old airhead RT.
HENRY
 
I always start the bike with the clutch lever 'in' so the starter motor has an easier time of it, especially when it's very cold and especially on Beemers.
 
Instead of something with a flame, I would try an incandescent electric light. Drop light or trouble lights, we used to call them. Leave one of those with it's metal shield resting against the engine.
 
Hmmm....

First thing I'd do is check that the oil is what BMW recommends - it's very common in Finland (or it was when oil wasn't as good) to change between "winter oil" and "summer oil" - modern oils aren't as picky, i suspect. But when getting down to -20C all things have to be in good condition.

Second thing I'd check is for a better battery, maybe a gel-battery (if the BMW one isn't already)

However, one thing that always works is warming the engine up somehow.

Dunno about Michigan, but in Scandinavia all cars come with immersion heaters in the coolant system - plugging them into a socket with a timer heats the engine up so you can easily start it.

Maybe you could get hold of a set of electric seat covers and mould them into some sort of engine-cover, and use a battery-charger and to power them prior to starting?
Another thing, but probably very very difficult to build is to integrate an immersion heater into the oil-coolant system, but I suspect you'd need a pump for that (depending on where the immersion heater is, of course).

Please keep us posted on your solution! And good luck!
 
Here's a better link for the allroad-site. There's plenty of nice pictures of the tours they've done. On the bottom of the site are the links to the winter tours they've made.

http://www.allroadtour.fi/enhistoria.htm

They organize nice tours in northern and eastern Finland. I haven't had a chance to take part in them. Hopefully sometime I will. Maybe when I get my 1200GS in April. (previously had an Africa Twin and a Caponord suitable for these tours, but still didn't find the time)
 
Thanks for the tip guys, though it seems to be a very battery related issue.
The problem is obviously not at home, where i can always use a tender or a jumpstart from the car. At the other end, it is more annoying. It seems that bmw 10-30 mineral oil is suitable for that weather, i'm not sure about the OEM battery though.
My daily commute takes about 25min, and on top of the heated grips i use heated gloves that connect directly to the battery. I always connect/disconnect the gloves with the engine running. And as a habit, I always start the bike with the clutch leaver pulled.

As CSmonkey wrote, i think that i'm approaching the battery limits. If anyone knows batteries and can recommend a different type that would work at [-30,50] degrees[c] i'll be glad to hear about it. I wonder why this doesn't seems to affect car batteries though.

I'll keep you posted,
Eran.
 
NiCads are good for about -40degC.

Another one of your problems is that batteries can often discharge at low temperatures, but have problems charging at much below 0degC.

This wouldn't be a problem for a car battery that is in a nice warm engine compartment when charging, but a bike battery is generally exposed at all time. I'd suggest that this is one of the reasons why car batteries have a better time. Plus they can be oversized "heavy duty" batteries with lots of spare capacity, whereas bike batteries are more fit-for-purpose.

I've worked in Siberia for some years and temperatures of -50degC were common. The solutions for starting (cars)were:
-Don't switch off in the first place. (we kept a landcruiser running for 4 months)
-Light a fire under the engine.
-Plug in a block heater
-Install a petrol fired pre-heater on a timer.
-Poor boiling hot water over the air filter

Or a combination of the above. None of these however are particularly suitable for western motorbikes I'd suggest!!!
 
The fact that you can start with the aid of a car battery suggests that the problem is mainly with your bike battery. The voltage of this, when fully charged , should be about 12.7 - 12.4v is half charged (at more normal temperatures - I dont know how battery voltage falls with ambient temperature) .

I would first change to a 5W40 oil to reduce viscous drag on start and try using a battery charger overnight to ensure a fully charged battery when you start in the morning. In your winter riding conditions with heaters on grips, gloves etc, the bike may simply not be getting a sufficient run to fully charge up.

If the charger helps, then replace the battery preferably with one with a bigger capacity.. If the charger didnt help, then youmay still be dealing with an undersized battery for your use. Difficult to see what else can be done so I would still try a new larger capacity battery.
 
If you do all as suggested you could wire in an aux battery placed in a top box and insulate it. I thought you could place a chemical handwarmer pack next to the battery to increase its temp.
Does petrol gel up like diesel at realy low temps
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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